What if ?
by Jkiah
Summary: Having dealt the very last blow to the Felldragon, Robin disappeared. But his work was not done. With two princesses basicaly swapping families in tragic circonstances and two countries ready and eager to eat each other, what will happen to the Fellblood ? Rated T because language, as I will inevitably slip up and fail to correct myself. And for the romance bits, too.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Ending and Beginning**

 **Hi folks. First ever fanfiction on this site, and first post too, now that I think about it. Well, it happens.**

 **Anyway, more or less a "M!Robin in Fates!Revelation" kind of story here, just because I was replaying through the two games not long ago and though why not try at it ? Seemed like fun, and yes, I know that exists already (what doesn't ?) but I need to pratice my English anyway, since it's not my native language so I decided to have some fun at the same time :p**

 **A. Ny. Way. Feel free to comment on what you find cool, lame, good, bad, ideas, suggestions, etc...**

 **I also take suggestion for the shipping and eugenics of our perfect troops (even if I do not know if I want to write about the timezone incubator thingy) if you are into that, but one thing at a time.**

 **Now here are a little less than 2k word for the first chapter. Oh, and since I know some people like to know, I wrote the thing while listening to some heavy metal, whatever that may mean about its influence on the story itself. Enjoy.**

 **\o/**

 **/!\ I do not own any part of the Fire Emblem franchise /!\**

* * *

The sky was dark, even from the scaly back of the enormous beast soaring in the sky far above the clouds where he stood motionless, looking at the spotless night sky, thinking a bit despite the urgency of his situation.

 _Strangely fitting that there would be nothing at all, I guess._

Repressing a chuckle, his eyes fell back to the being right in front of him. There was a man with the exact same appearance as himself, albeit looking ever so slighty older. That and the vivid red eyes the monster had in place of the man's brown ones. And the cruel smile, too, for the abbheration was talking with the expression of a predator just meeting and toying with his prey.

 _We're not **that** much alike, in the end._

This time, he didn't manage to hold back his chuckles, who then seemed to resonate despite the noisy surroundings. That seemed to have shut the red eyed being right up in the middle of whatever he was saying, a scowl replacing his previous smile for a good handfull of seconds before reappearing along with his disagreable voice.

"Are you finally losing your mind, Robin ?", he began mocking. "Ready to surrender your body to me and joining hands in greatness, as your destiny foretold ?"

Confidence oozed from him despite his very badly beaten up appearance, but then again, Robin didn't look much better. He, however, didn't respond to the monster in front of him, looking over his shoulder instead, weirdly composed for the situation.

 _They aren't really up for it anymore, are they..._

Behind him laid his companions, scattered on the back of the winged beast serving as an impromptu battlefield. Not dead, mind you, just exhausted. And rightfully so, the battle having dragged on from early morning to this late in the night.

"Look at them", the monster laughed. "Your friends, nothing more than flies that I squashed from m-"

"You haven't squashed anything, Grima", Robin began, slowly turning his head to look at his ennemy. "Nobody is dead. You know you failed to really do anything. And you're scared now. I would know. I am you, after all."

Grima's face instantly lost all trace of composure after hearing his steady voice and when he saw sparks beginning to surround Robin's hand, he instantly panicked and tried to muster what little magic he had left, without success.

"W-what do you think you are doing ?", he spoke while forcing his body to move, a feat proving to be too much thanks to the blows he suffered at the divine blade of some of Robin's companions. "You **know** what will happen if you kill me ! You will -"

"Die", Robin interrupted again, lifting his left hand a little, clenching his fist alfway as if to grip the lightning it generated. "And what of it ? That was my plan all along. The only one really against it was Chrom, and he can't really stop me while he sleeps, now can he ?"

A truly happy smile was on Robin face as he spoke, contrasting greatly with his twin's, the very portrait of dread at the moment.

"Y-you !", was all he could utter in his despair before Robin's hand penetrated his chest until the middle of the forearm.

He didn't want to take any chances. After all, this was a once in a lifetime chance to rid the world of the Fell Dragon and the Fellblood all at once. That was why he simply chose to thrust his ligthningclad hand into his doppleganger rather than risking a somewhat lesser wound by firing Thoron in his weakened state. For all his bravado and talk right now, he was really near collaspe.

"I should thank you, you know.", he spoke happily to his now dying counterpart. "You gave me all the cards to end you, after all."

With another chuckle, the lightning dispersed when he retracted his hand, leaving a gaping hole where the monster's heart would have been otherwise. With a soft sound, the lifeless body fell to the ground, Grima's face still frozen in pure horror. Robin took some time to admire his andywork, returning to his senses when he saw the body beginning to disaprear in dark particules and vanishing in the air. He turned his head near where his companions lay unconscious, except for the Voice silently watching since the beginning.

"Well.", he began. "The end, then. Goodbye, everyone. And take them back safely, Naga."

Following his double, he too disappeared in dark lights, leaving no trace of anything ever being there.

* * *

Sunlight slipped trough a sligth opening in the curtains and made its way onto the face of the sole occupant of the room. The young girl twitched, then turned to her side, effectively hiding her face from the sunlight, but she could still sense it the back of her head, causing her to feel restless enough to finaly decide to get out of the bed, albeit begrundgigly.

 _So early._

She thought to herself while stretching her arms, getting up and going to her shelf to pick some clothes to wear, purposefully avoiding looking at the ligth protruding from the thick curtains. She had spent a little over six months in this country now, but she still found it rather hard to adapt to the very, very early sunrise. But she will have to.

Kidnapped one night she spent in a somewhat near the border fortress she had been, well, exiled in by one of her late mother's rivals, she was quickly brougth here and told to "be good and wait until the trade is concluded to go home". At first, she was thinking that she would not be kept here too long. Maybe a month or so, if what she was told during her studies were anything to go by.

She rapidly found out that it was not to meant to be. She shouldn't have been surprised, really. She may have been young, but she had ears, and eyes all the same. And what she heard and saw during her stay in the Nohrian court was enough for her to know that she was neither wanted nor needed. Quite the opposite, in fact. They must have been overjoyed to have the opportunity write her off like it was no one's business. It brought a self depreciating and somewhat lonely smile to her lips to think that perhaps her abductors received their ransom on the condition that they kept her with them.

 _That sure would be funny._

She didn't find the thought too painful, however. She did consider the dark kingdom to be her home, but only because this was where her mother was. And she was no more. She only ever met scorn and disgust since then, so being away from that environment was somewhat nice. Only the sun wasn't, really. And she would adapt soon enough, given the opportunity to stay. She was more or less well cared, after all.

Finishing to put on a strange outfit recently provided to her by a maid, her reveries were interrupted by a knock on the sliding door to her room. Finding it odd to be needed for something – after all, she was an hostage, not staff-, she went to open it only to be told to "follow to the throne room, please".

The trek to the throne room was an uncomfortable one. Not only was the girl more of a silent, listener type of person, but the people in the castle generaly openly eyed her with suspicion when they were on their best behavior. There were some exception, like today's maid for example, but the girl still prefered to avoid people anyway. Some sort of reflex she acquired during her stay in the nohrian court. She knew it was not good, but she couldn't say it was bad when it allowed her to survive so far with little damage to herself, if we didn't count her significantly lower social skills and interractions. That train of thought was interrupted before she reached a definitive answer.

"Please enter, Azura-sama.", the maid bowed to her while skillfully opening one of the two doors, making way for her to pass.

So she did. Hesitantly advancing into the big and surprinsingly empty throne room, she wondered what she did here while looking in wonder at the ceiling, flags, tapestries and collumns decorating the room. She was never once allowed inside the nohrian equivalent, so she had nothing to compare it to, but she thought it was gorgeous. Then her eyes fell on the place she subconciously avoided while entering: the throne. Much like the rest of the room, it was magnificent, of course. But what made her avoid it were the three people in its vicinity. With one sat on it. One thought immediately came to her.

 _Crap._

Instantly recognizing her thought to be improper, she blushed profusely -wich always made somewhat of a contrast with her pale blue hair-, and started fidgeting under the gaze of the three people. Before long though, she tried reminiscing on the social classes her mother made her attend to and decided to try announcing herself timidly with a nohrian curtsy.

"I, err...As you ordered, I, Azura, have made my way to you... your highness ?", she tested, eyeing the reaction of the other party.

The younger male didn't react at all, simply looking at her in what appeared to be genuine curiosity. Maybe he just never saw a, well, someone right from Nohr ? While the older man on the other side of the throne made a visible scowl seeing her introduce herself that way, but he remained quiet.

With a soft laugh that seemed to make the heavy atmosphere of the room disappear, the woman sitting on the throne began to seak with a somewhat strange smile on her face.

"Azura, hm...", the woman seemed to think for a moment before pursuing. "What a pretty name. I am Mikoto, current ruler of Hoshido."

Her voice was nice. It actually made Azura remember her mother, and Mikoto's compliment just made her bluch that much more before she replied.

"Th-thank you very much, your grace !"

After a brief moment of just smiling at the child, the queen decided to continue the talk forward.

"I have convoqued you today to speak of the recent...", she looked toward the older man on her left with a very complicated expression before looking again in Azura direction. "... Unfortunate incidents. Namely, your abduction by hoshidan soldiers..."

Azura didn't respond. She didn't really know what to say. Or do. Or anything at all about this situation other than what she was told. And the fact that she was here. So she just listened as the talk went on between the queen and herself.

"I'm sure this situation has caused you much distress, and we apologize for it."

Surprising everyone in the room, the queen lowered her head in what seemed like a sincere apology, immediately followed by a bow from the younger boy. The older man, however did not budge until the queen made him with a glare.

"Exactly... We... apologize.", he finally said with the most reluctant look possible.

All this display prompted Azura to speak.

"Err... D-don't worry, your highness... And, uh... wh-what ab... err... I mean, does this conversation mean that you received what you asked and I will go back ?"

Truthfully, she was not in any hurry. Scratch that, she hated the very idea of returning, but it was not her decision to make. If the story was ending, then that was it. But to her surprise, the three faces in front of her instantly changed expression at her question. And all three looked litterally devastated.

"I am afraid... not.", finally stated the queen in what was possibly the worst and saddest tone of voice Azura ever heard in her meager years of life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 : New Fell Dragon**

* * *

For the longest time, the pure, untouched darkness was all there was in that space. An endless sea of black ink, still as death. And silent, too.

Then it appeared. One moment there was just the infinite black color of the void, and the next there it was. A single point, a minuscule, laughably small presence. But that sudden appearance didn't do much to change the scenery, for it was devoid of any color too. Only different from the rest by the simple but crucial fact that, for reasons unknown, it was there.

But it didn't stop at that, for its darkness was ultimately much deeper than its surroundings, and it began to corrupt and absord it, filling the void little by little with its bizarre existance. It had no form. No substance. It was juste pure energy filling the space with darkness of its own and slowly growing in the process.

It continued like that until it reached a point at which keeping an undertermined form was not optimal to its survival anymore. So it took form. Instinctively, it changed into the form most familiar to it.

It grew again, took a somewhat massive and elongated form, grew scales and wings. Horns, too. A mouth. And then it opened its six, purple, glowing eyes, casting their light on the darkness for the first time in what appeared to be an eternity.

And then it was born, and began to remember things.

* * *

Azura laid face down on her bed, letting escape a drepressed sigh much louder than she intended. It was a blessing that she was alone. She did her best to stay composed during the walk back to her room, but she was quickly reaching her limits.

 _I should probably be happy, right ?_

She was strugling with the informations dumped onto her during the earlier audience. She didn't really know what to do with most of it. If she was totally honest, she didn't really care for a good deal of it.

Firstly, she was abducted in retaliation for two things: the murder of their king, and the kidnapping of one of their princesses.

 _What was it ? Kami ? Kamui ? They seemed sad..._

Another sigh. Secondly, her kidnapping wasn't done under any official order. As the queen, Mikoto, said, the one responsible for organising it was the older, bespectacled man she saw during the audience, Yukimura, as he was introduced. It was apparently somehing he did without even telling his queen, wich explains why she was never introduced before.

She didn't care much for finding who did what, frankly. There was only one thing that did attract her attention.

Azura wasn't known for her ability to read other's emotions easily, far from it. The only notable exceptions were malice directed at herself or, like in this case, negative feelings. Here, it was sadness. Even then, "sadness" didn't do it justice. The queen was devastated. And the man that ordered her kidnapping was obviously upset enough to do that kind of thing without telling his superiors about it. Her seven years old mind summarised those feelings by simply telling that, in fact,

 _They were all very, very sad._

As soon as the thought hit her, another one followed.

 _Must be nice._

The girl must have been loved. Cared for. At the very least, the people missed her. She recognized the emotion she was feeling. It was jealousy. It was not much, really. Just a fleeting and stupid thought. She didn't even know the girl, and she spoke to the queen only once, but Azura was jealous. And that was because of the third thing she was told during the audience: Azura was not missed.

From what she understood of what the queen and that Yukimura guy said, Nohr never even so much as responded to the kidnapping. There was no complaint, no trade talk, not even a discussion. Azura was simply abandoned.

A hollow laugh left her lips before she voiced her initial thought with a cracking voice.

"I should probably be happy... right ?"

She immediately let her tears fall, the sound of her sobbing muffled by the pillow in wich her face was buried.

* * *

He opened his eyes only to see darkness in front of him. His body felt weird. Like it was bound, but at the same time more free than it was before. And his head ached. Horribly. He was no stranger to headaches, mostly thanks to his father and Grima, but this was another level. He felt like his head was like a full bag in which one tried to put more and more things without allowing it to crack.

But it was clearer, too, for if he tried to concentrate, he could feel things coming back to him that he was supposed to have forgotten years ago. Like his childhood as a Grimleal. His younger father, his mother. His education. All the things he thought lost forever, they were all coming back to him.

But it didn't make sense. He was supposed to be dead. Even Naga said so.

To be perfectly exact, she said that there was a chance that he could come back, but that was very unlikely. The chance of it happening was simply zero. It needed bonds, powerfull bonds, and Robin was one hundred percent certain he hadn't had those.

Well, maybe Chrom. Lyssa and Sumia, to a certain extend. The future children could count too, since he was basically the one Chrom assigned to look after them and Lucina. But he didn't think any of those bonds were really anything strong. And he certainly didn't speak to many of them after the whole Fire Emblem fiasco in Plegia.

And even more importantly, he was perfectly okay with dying there. He sais as much to Grima. Chrom was the only one who was against the plan. Grima was way too dangerous to risk him escaping a seal that was already proven to be breakable. And Robin never particularly valued his own life. He wasn't a hero, mind you, but if he weighted his life and those of Chrom and the children, the answer was really obvious to him.

But there he was. Alive. He didn't know in what form, admitedly, but he had little doubt that he was. Dead men didn't feel pain, after all.

So he stayed still and did was little he could do. He thought about his situation, analysed his newfound memories, experimented with the strange state his body seemed to be in and the dark world around him.

* * *

Azura had no idea how long she was out of it before she was interrupted in her crying by a knock on her door. She slowly lifted her head from her now wet pillow and looked in the direction of her window. Daylight was still visible in the space between the curtains, but that didn't mean much, considering how long the day lasted in these lands.

"You can enter.", she said after a little moment.

She was a mess, no doubdt, so she she quickly changed her position, sitting on the bed, and used her sleeves to wipe her face as best she could. She planned to just tell whoever her visitor was to leave her alone but her plan was foiled when she saw Mikoto -the **queen** \- opening her door. Azura hastily scrambled to her feet.

"Y-your hi-", her greeting was interrupted when the queen ran up to her and hastily hugged her close while gently whispering.

"Shhh, child. It's okay."

Azura was petrified. Never once since her mother's passing has any adult spoken or hugged her that way.

"Everything will be okay, child. I'm sorry, I am so, so sorry."

She sensed her legs beginning to tremble and before long, they gave up and forced her to kneel, making Mikoto accompany her. Azura buried her face in the chest of the queen, hiding her reappearing tears, and hugged her back. In response to her sobbing, the monarch began rocking back and forth in an atempt to soothe her, all the while whispering reassuringly in her ears the way a mother would.

They stayed that way for a long time, Azura's sobbing growing louder and Mikoto hugging and trying to console her until the girl shed her last tears. And even then, the queen kept on huggind her until the sound ceased completely. Once she was certain the blue haired child was more or less calm, the royal put both her hand on her shoulders, and separated herself from the child, peering into her amber eyes. She then moved one of her hands to wipe the bluenette's face, putting on the most reassuring smile she could manage.

"Better ?"

Azura nodded, eyes still red and breathing still a bit heavy from her outburst.

"You don't have to worry about anything anymore, child." The queen continua, her hand now affectionately caressing Azura's cheek. "You can stay here. Live with us. Everything will be great. Okay ?"

Azura watched in silence as the queen spoke, letting her caress her cheek. This woman reminded her so, so much of her late mother. Her smile, her voice. Even their scents were similar. Uncounsciously, Azura hugged the grown woman again.

"Ok-... Okay."

The queen accepted her hug without protest, giggling lightly. After a moment, she separated the girl from herself and stood up, extending a hand, smiling.

"Come with me, there are a few people you'll need to greet if you are to be a part of the family. How about it, child ?"

Azura hesitated, looking at the hand. She peeked at her side, into a mirror situated a bit above her. She was a mess. The queen took hold of her hand.

"Don't worry, child. You're beautifull." She said, giggling again in her voice so similar to Azura's mother.

The both of of them then made it out of the room.

* * *

Robin was exceedingly proud of himself for his self control right now. After all, he managed to not only not completely freak out when he realised what form he now had, but he also kept his calm when someone -or something- spoke to him.

"Finally found you."

The mysterious invader of his Boring Land -Robin had named the sea of darkness surrounding him during a moment of profound inspiration and intense boredom- was, it seems, a woman. Or at least something with the voice of a female.

Naturally, strange voices out of nowhere were nothing new to the tactician, and he knew full well that what one must do when encountering those is to ignore it.

"Someone at last ! I was bored out of my mind here." He replied in a perhaps a little too eager voice. "Who is it ?"

But he was effectively running out of things to do. There was nothing here. So he talked back. He discovered how to do that -and many, many other things- in this form during his time alone.

"I see that is the form you took. Rather tasteless of you, Fellblood."

The voice was more or less neutral when it spoke. And it seemed familiar to the plegian.

"That's not a nice thing to say. I didn't choose, y'know. And I asked something, though I can guess now."

As if on cue to his word, the figure of a woman materialised out of thin air. She was a woman wearing a rather revealing outfit, with long green hair, pointy ears and glowing green eyes.

"Naga, uh." Robin said out loud, confirming his guess to be right.

"It is I, Fellblood." She seemed to smile a little, but it was difficult to say. She was, however, very intently examing him. "Your situation is rather unusual."

That comment elicited a loud, very loud laugh from the dragonified tactician. "You don't say ! Care to explain what happened ? I don't recall me becoming a... dragon being part of the risks for killing one."

"It was not." She said with conviction. "If I had to guess the reason for this happening, it would be that your … link to Grima was too strong, and his desire to escape his fate too desperate. You just... took in his essence and emerged on top. He was mad and desperate. And you always were a part of him, and him of you."

"Is he... still here ?" Robin was almost afraid to ask.

"No. I do not sense him anywhere. Grima is no more. You... took his place, if you will. And..." She hesitated a moment. "do you plan to keep this form long ?"

That question stunned Robin. "I can change it ?!" He was just content with keeping his sanity upon discovering his form, he did not try anything to alter it. Should he have ?

After a sigh from his female roommate, an answer came. "Just will it. Your essence just took a confortable form upon arriving in this space. Imagining your old form and taking it here should be simple enough."

He should have. He really should have.

With a sigh, he closed his six eyes and pictured his old form with as much details as he could manage. In no time at all, he could feel the unplaisant sensation of his bones cracking and his muscles compacting.

After a bit, a man with white air stood in front of Naga. He looked at his arms, his feets, pulled his hair, all the while laughing. He looked again at his arm, precisely the back of his right hand. The mark was not here.

"Clothes." Naga's voice interrupted. "You could have put on some clothes."

"What ?" Robin looked at himself again. "Right."

With a little more concentration, his usual beige attire and dark coat covered him. He let out a satisfied sigh.

"There. All good ?"

Naga eyed him intently again, then moved her hand at her side. Something like a mirror appeared.

"There are a few differences, it seems. And your brand changed hand."

Robin hastily looked at the back of his left hand, and there he found his old brand. Lifting his sleeve to see better, he noticed that the mark, unlike before, continued all along his arm until his shoulder, roughly depicting the shape of a wingless Grima.

"I didn't even notice." He admitted, then turned to look in the mirror. "Oh."

The man reflected in the mirror was not exactly what he was expecting. He had his features, of course, though looking a little younger -maybe one year or so younger from when Chrom first found him. His eyes, however, were red. Like those of the version of himself possessed by Grima. Then there were his ears, who were now a little longer, and pointed. Not as much as Naga's, but more than they were supposed to. He absentmindedly played with them.

"What hap-... Is it because I took in whatever was left of Grima ?"

After a little bit of thinking, Naga responded. "Most likely. You did not lose your body at any point. My guess is that the power just modified it. You look like a fullfledged Manakete. How odd."

Robin plopped himself sitting on the floor. "Great. And what am I supposed to do, now ?"

He put his hand on his chin, thinking, before being interrupted.

"I did not come here just to talk, Fellblood. I had... something to ask of you." Robin lifted his head, looking at her from the ground, staying silent as she continued. "Even more so now that I have seen your situation."

"Go ahead, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon anyway." Replacing himself to sit cross legged, he placed his elbow on his knees and rested his chin on his hands.

"An... acquaintance of mine asked for help. He already convinced some people to help, but he asked me if I could find someone else. Someone... a little more powerfull than normal." The dragon goddess eyed him strangely. "You tried it already, right ? Your new power."

He hastily looked away. "Maybe. A bit."

"Then you know you are powerfull. And dangerous. More so than before. And I am guessing that you have no plans to return to yours friends." There was no response from Robin as he continued to look away. Naga sighed. "If so, then I have to ask you this favor."

"What do I gain from doing you a favor ?" He finally looked in her direction. She immediately tossed him something. He catched it and examined the little black sphere. "It is a dragonstone I made from the remains of the Fell Dragon in case it was ever needed. It should help you keep everything under control. You can consider it your down payment." She explained.

Robin rolled the stone between his fingers. "Down payment from Naga herself ? I am guessing the favor is not something easy."

"I will explain, not to worry." She smiled again. "What's more, I think you will find some means to keep yourself from becoming like Grima in the land I am planning to send you."

Robin sighed, looking at the ground. "Fine. I'm listening."

* * *

 **There you have it. Chapter 2. Thanks for reading :p**

 **Edit Nov. 8 : Minor grammar and spelling correction.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Arena fight**

 **Howdy folks. Truth be told, this chapter was like 80% done when I posted the second chapter, which is why it's now here.**

 **Firstly, thank you very much for the good reviews, follows and favorites ! I'll try to keep the good work :3**

 **Secondly, sorry for any who wanted more child!Azura, last chapter was the last (except flashback material) 'cause I didn't really have anything good to do with her. The family bonding will take place, don't worry, just not with child!Azura. The sibling state is mostly established anyway. ^_^**

 **xXTheReaperXx and Andromeda : I think I lean more on the side of RobinxAzura, but it will depend on my capability to write something good enough to convince myself that it will work, I guess :p At the very least, like this chapter will make somewhat clearer, Robin and Azura will know each other years before the begining of the games.**

 **GrimaxNaga :To be honest, I'm not really sure of the limits of Robin's power at the moment. Certainly a lot, but I don't want him to do everything, so I'll see. Anankos is supposed to be OP anyway, so even Grima should have trouble, right ?**

* * *

Overall, Azura's meeting with what was supposed to become her new family went a little better than she expected. Right after her shamefull display in front of the queen, she was brought in another room where two children, a teenager and a toddler cared for by a maid were all waiting.

There, she was introduced to Ryoma and Hinoka, the two oldest, and Takumi and Sakura, the two youngest.

Ryoma was the young boy who whas present during her audience, so he was at least someone she recognised. The other three she never saw before.

Unsurprinsingly, Azura didn't realy hit it off with all of them. But that was mostly Azura's aloof nature at fault, admitedly. Ryoma was obviously doing his best -too much, if someone asked her- to make her feel welcome. Sakura, being the little girl she was, was just, well, incredibly cute, and Azura found herself spending a good amount of time caring for her whenever she was with the queen.

As for Hinoka and Takumi, those were the most problematic ones. Hinoka didn't seem to have any mischief concerning the blue haired princess, but she was not the most welcoming person when all she did was training, training and training again. Takumi, however, was more of a problem. Since their very first meeting, the boy made it quite clear that he didn't trust her, nor did he want too much to do with her. Azura was quite certain that if it wasn't for Mikoto's wish for them to all get along, they would never even talk.

That was how Azura's life in the hosidan court went for the most part. She generally divided her time between Ryoma's attempts to make her fit in the best he could, doting and later simply hanging out with Sakura, trying to help and spend time with Mikoto when she was free and, of course, her own precious alone time for which she somehow managed to always secure a good amount of hours per day.

With all of that, the once nohrian princess found that her time in the hoshidan royal family was generally pleasant and that it passed way too quickly.

Over the years, most of the people in the castle warmed up to her to a certain extent. She was still a quiet and cold princess, but for a good amount of servants, she was at least a quiet and cold **hoshidan** princess. But that was still limited to the castle staff. Most of the citizens still viewed her as somewhat of a hostage, something that, in time, their queen took upon herself to correct.

Azura quickly realized that Mikoto, when it came to her children -with the recent addition of the blue haired princess-, was a bit of a doting parent and a big busybody. This was why she made Azura help her in her official -and sometime non official- business very early on. To make her people see her newest daughter and so that the staff would learn more about the girl and accept her. This tactic was somewhat helpful, as stated before, but it was far from enough for the hoshidan ruler.

And that is what led Azura to this unfortunate situation, where she was coaxed into accompanying Mikoto, Sakura and Ryoma to an annual event in the hoshidan capital. The recently sixteen years old bluenette princess was currently sitting on the left side of her adoptive mother, with her little sister on the right side. All three of them were sitting in the part reserved for royalty, in full view of all the crowd coming in the arena to watch the show.

The arena itself was a immense building and Azura would not have been surprised if someone told her that thousands of people were filling the seats circling the sand stadium where the fights would be held. After all, from what she gathered, it was a grand tournament. And this year would be even grander with the participation of the crown prince, Ryoma, and a special recompense for the winner directly by the queen. All that with almost no restriction concerning the participants. It was a really, **really** too big event for the princess.

«Mother ?», Azura attempted to strike a conversation with the happy looking queen. «Why am I here, exactly ? And Sakura for that matter. You know we don't like the attention, right?»

The smile never left the face of the hoshidan monarch when she dismissed her daughter's concern with a pat on her head. «You're here because I want to watch this event with you. Don't you want to spend time with me ?»

That was a technique Mikoto recently discovered to be extremely effective for guilting her amber eyed girl into accompanying her in her antics. This time, too, it proved to be enough.

«Of-of course I want to, but...» Azura planned on complaining a bit harder for the sake of it but decided otherwise upon looking at the ever present smile of her mother. «As you wish...», she finally sighed.

She averted her gaze, looking in front of her and doing her best to ignore the crowd. The crowd who was looking right at her. Surely this wasn't her imagination. She was about to make herself curl into a ball on her chair when the youngest girl present spoke hesitantly.

«Hu-huuum... M-mother ?» Azura always found her stuttering cute, but then again she found the girl in her entirety to be way too adorable since the moment she met her. «I-is nii-san really planning to participate ? W-won't it be d-dangerous ?»

Their mother took a little bit of time to think about it before giggling dismissively. «Not to worry, dear. Ryoma can't possibly loose in a fight, he takes after your father after all.» She affectionnately patted the head of the timid girl, wich prompted her to squint her eyes in contentment. «Beside, this arena is a bit special : nothing too grave can happen. This is just a martial art tournament.»

As if on cue with the announcement of the queen, someone in black clothing -no doubt a referee- came in the center of the stadium and declared the opening after a bit of a speech about hoshidan honnor and some applause for their royals present.

Which, of course, forced Azura and her family to stand up and wave to the overexcited crowd. She really wanted to go hide in a corner.

After that, the tournament proper began. It was much like what Azura expected. She already saw her brother train before, and what she saw of the other participants reassured her of the fact that it would be an easy victory for the crown prince. She even began to find the whole thing rather boring after her brother won his first round, beginning to let her gaze wander here and there until a strange commotion in the crowd made her look at the stage. Upon seeing what the commotion was about, she let out a rather rare chuckle.

The man advancing from the right side of the arena was dressed in a dark coat, with the hood raised and hiding his face. That in itself wasn't that strange or funny, but the fact that he seemed to be really absorbed in the book he was reading while walking, however, was.

* * *

Robin was really grasping at straws trying to decipher the strange symbols that made certain texts he found since Naga transported him in this place. He didn't have too hard a time with learning the spoken language. Mainly because it was nearly identical, but the characters used for the books were not. Not all, at least. A good portion were, but the others were written in what was more akin to ancient plegian hieroglyphs than proper letters. He spent a good portion of his nearly two weeks stay in this bizarre world to try translating some, but with little success so far. And now that it was his turn he would have to concentrate on the match. Maybe.

Looking a little above his book, he saw that he was now some meters away from what was supposed to be his adversary. He analysed the young... boy ? Man ? The people of this land seemed overall younger than they were, it seemed, so he didn't really know.

 _Not that it matters now._

Without so much as another look at his opponent, he nodded to the man arbitrating the fight to tell him he was ready and returned to his reading -something about history, if what he managed to translate was any indication.

After a bit, the judge declared the beginning of the match with quite a bit of hesitation, understandably. Not that Robin did care much, he just continued towork on his crude translation until his opponent -visibly not the patient analyst type- closed the distance between them and attempted a vertical strike with his blade. The tactician just sighed, closed his book with a tud. He swiftly turned on himself to dodge the blow and sent his kick into his opponent's belly at the same time, sending him painfully crashing to the ground a little too far away.

The man didn't even twitch and the entire arena was silent when the flustered judge declared Robin's victory.

* * *

Azura watched as the cloacked figure returned in the waiting room after his match, reading on the way again.

«Mother... Was the other one just really weak or...?» She finally asked after the stranger disappeared, prompting her sister and mother to both return to their senses.

«No.» The queen began decisively. «I believe he is the son of one of our generals and without being on Ryoma's level of skill, he should be quite good.»

«S-so the o-other man was j-just really g-good ?» Was the younger girl's question.

The only response from the queen was an «It would seem so...» before she sunk into deep thoughts. Azura didn't have it in her to interrupt or make more conversations right now. She, too, was actually quite interrested and found herself waiting for the next fights of the stranger.

The tournament continua under the increasingly curious gaze of Azura, Mikoto, Sakura and, no doubt, the rest of the crowd. Each match with Ryoma or the mysterious stranger was especially interresting for the blue haired girl. Ryoma, for one, won each fight with his mastery of the blade as expected, but he at least gave a spectacle to the crowd. The stranger, however, always ended his matches in the blink of an eye, evidently finding whatever he was reading way more interesting than his opponents. Something she honestly found way funnier than the way Ryoma did it. By the end of the day, the only two participants were her brother and the stranger. The final match was about to begin.

* * *

Robin abandonned his attempt at translating the full book only mere seconds before he was called back on the ring for the finals, putting his book in a pocket inside of his coat. Upon exiting the waiting zone, he looked up at the orange sky. This whole tournament business was taking way too long for him.

 _One more random guy to send flying and mission accomplished. Good job me._

Quite frankly, he was disappointed. He remembered risen which posed more of a threat than this country's warriors, but he attributed that to him measuring them with the wrong scale. After all, he was way weaker when he spent his time beating risen up.

He arrived at his designed place when he ended musing over his growth and let out a little laugh when he saw that the judge was almost surprised to see him without his book.

His opponent was already there, waiting in a white and red armor and with his arms crossed before his chest. Judging by the intense draconic aura, his opponent was oviously royalty -Naga warned him of that strange fact. He wore a long sword, much like Long'qu used. The fighting style of most guys he fought today were similar to Long'qu's style too, which was too bad for them, since the tactician did quite a lot of training with the swordmaster. Enough to be really familiar with the style.

His thoughts were interrupted when his oponent chose to address him. «You are indeed powerful, stranger, but to not discover your face before royalty is an insult in these parts.»

The plegian dragon just inclined his head and smirked, thinking of something funny to do. He made a show of looking to his sides. «Royalty ? Where ?»

Judging by the quickly hidden scowl of his opponent, that level of friendly taunt would not do. It was time to step up the game.

«I am, fo-»

«Good for you», Robin interrupted the prince -which to his honor only managed to stun him into uncrossing his arms-, then addressed the judge. «Do we begin this evening or not ?»

The referee didn't know what to do and looked at his oponent, visibly seeking his approval, which he got in the form of a low nod while the crown prince unsheated his spark emiting blade and took a stance.

Satisfied, Robin unsheated a simple enough saber he got before the tournament and took no stance. He was left handed. «If you want me to lower my hood, make me, princeling.», was his last taunt before the fight began. He was overall satisfied of the intensity in the look he received in response to this one. Maybe he would have fun with this one.

* * *

Azura was stunned in her seat. Nobody. She never saw anybody talk to Ryoma that way. She turned her head to see the reaction of her family. Sakura's was, as expected, overly nervous.

 _Cute._

Mikoto, on the other hand, was a somewhat worried looking one.

«Mother, is everything alright ?»

She didn't respond immediately, watching as Ryoma took the first move of the fight by closing the distance in a flash and sending an horizontal blow with Raijinto fully clad in electricity. It was blocked without apparent difficulty by the hooded stranger who didn't even take a step back in front of the lightning. Seeing his attack so easily dismissed, Ryoma chose to strike some more, changing the angle with each attack. Each one was blocked with just enough force, and never once the stranger retaliated. The one sided exchange lasted only a few moments, but numerous attacks landed and were paried.

«I... think Ryoma may have made a bad move by letting the heat take to his head.» It was all the queen said, never letting her eyes off the fight. Azura followed her lead and watched as Ryoma took his distances after his assault.

He retook his stance, blade parallel to the ground and hands at chin level. He made the Raijinto generate more lightning, but before he was ready to strike, the stranger disappeared from Azura's view.

With a loud sound of metal hitting metal, he reappeared on the right side of Ryoma, who just blocked his blow. With both blade locked in a contest of strenght, the hooded man then seemingly gave in, breaking Ryoma's balance in doing so, and sent his knee right into the now exposed side of the crown prince. The force sent him flying a bit away, but he managed to land on his feet.

The stranger then made no sign to move, visibly inviting Ryoma to make the next move with a somewhat arrogant bow which earned another little laugh from the blue haired princess. The prince didn't need to think twice and, like before, concentrated on Raijinto, pointing the blade now satturated with lightning at the sky and giving a powerful vertical blow, slicing the air between him and his opponent. This sent all his magic at his opponent, who made no move to dogde.

The stranger's unique move was to swap his sword in his other hand and point his now free left hand palm first in the direction of the incoming blow. The impact sent winds and sand even in the stands, but the only visible effect it had on the stranger was that his hood was now off -no doubt knocked back by the winds-, revealing white hair, piercing red eyes, pointed ears and the most annoyingly cocky grin the princess ever saw.

Azura was, even if she will forever deny it, mesmerized during a good amount of time and only returned to her senses by the sound of a chair hitting the floor right next to her. Turning her head in a hurry, she saw Mikoto hurriedly running to the waist level barrier separating them from the stage, gripping it with enough force to rip it off the ground. She bent over it at an almost unsafe angle.

«Kamui ?» Azura heard her whispering. Unsure if she heard right or even what that meant, she just resumed watching the match coming to a close.

Ryoma was visibly tired from his last attack and she heard the stranger laugh juste a bit before he disapeared again from her view, reappearing behind Ryoma and knocking him out of it with a blow on the back of his defenseless neck.

«Good work, your highness.», he said as Ryoma sank to the gound. He sheated his sword and waited for the judge to announce his victory before making his way to the exit.

Azura was doubting her eyes. Ryoma lost. **Ryoma**! And quite badly at that. What's more, her foster mother reacted way too strongly to the appearance of the stranger. She turned her head from the stranger's back to see Sakura hastily trying to help their mother to regain her calm. She would have to. The champion of the tournament just won an audience, after all.

The blue haired princess left her seat to join her mother and sister.

«Are... are you alright, Mother ?»

The queen was slowly regaining control of her heavy breathing. «Y-yes.» She struggled to speak at first, then managed to put on the smile that had become so familiar to Azura these recent years. «Its was a surprise, wasn't it, girls ? It looks like we will have an interresting meeting after that. But for now, let's all go see Ryoma, okay ?»

The queen took the hand of Sakura and made sure Azura was following before exiting the room, heading for the infirmary.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading again, folks ! And before leaving you to your own devices, I have an inquiry to make.**

 **What do you think about this age chart I made for the plot ? Does it seem realistic to you ? I tried to make it go along nicely with some in game info we have, but I dunno. I can't remember for the life of me if Leo is supposed to be older than Corrin or not. And I don't buy the "Elise is an adult" line. Ever.**

 **Corrin kidnapping - story above - gameplot**

 **Ryoma : 14 - 23 - 26**

 **Hinoka : 7 - 16 - 19**

 **Azura : 7 - 16 - 19**

 **Corrin : 6 - 15 - 18**

 **Takumi : 5 - 14 - 17**

 **Sakura : 3 - 12 - 15**

 **Xander : 13 - 22 - 25**

 **Camilla : 12 - 21 - 24**

 **Leo : 6 - 15 - 18**

 **Elise : 0 - 9 - 12**

 **Edit Nov. 8 : Minor grammar and spelling correction.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 : Reward and surprise**

 **Hi folks. Another one here (yes, I have a bunch of free time for now u_u) !**

 **Thanks for the support and the reviews / advices !**

 **Simmedon : Note that we only have Robin's opinion on his bonds with the Shepherd for now, so he could be biased and think very little of something that would mean the world to someone else. Fortunately there's three former Shepherds in Fates to see if he was right or not ^_^ As for Robin's character, it's what I try to go with, so I hope I manage to keep him that way :p**

 **Grimaxnaga & Vanderspiegel : Yes, I read a little bit and popular opinion on the net would have Grima either wipe the floor with a crying Anankos or them being roughly equal. ^_^ And yes, Robin in this story received A LOT of power, and could probably rekt the majority of the cast. We'll see ;)**

 **As for Elise's age, I actualy went with what the game tell us in an Elise!Azura support where Azura claim that Elise was born only after she was abducted. And in a support with Arthur, we learn that she was kidnapped "more than a decade ago" which I personnaly take to mean something like 12. And frankly, in the japanese version, she was stated to be 10 years old so I find myself generous xD**

* * *

Azura, her mother and her sister all joined Ryoma in the infirmary of the arena just a bit after he regained consciousness. Sakura immediately ran up to him to check his state, elliciting little laugh from the crown prince and the queen before the latter inquired about the former.

"How are you feeling, Ryoma ?" The concern in her voice was evident.

The swordmaster raised both arms in the air. "Nothing except for my pride has been injured. I just lost consciousness for some minutes." He then put one of his hands on the top of the head of the pink haired girl fussing over him. "Which is why you can stop looking so worried, Sakura."

The younger girl immediately started fidgetting while staring at the ground, her face bright red. The crown prince then turned his atention toward his mother and other little sister, his face now devoid of any emotion.

"I didn't know someone this powerful was hiding somewhere in Hoshido. Who is he ?"

"I do not know", the queen started answering before hesitating a bit and ending her sentence in a lower tone. "But his features..."

The prince narrowed his eyes at that, looking at the longing expression plastered on the monarch's face. "I know what you are trying to say, Mother, but I highly doubt they are related in any way. For one, he is a man."

The hoshidan ruler simply whispered a tiny "Yes, I know..." before shaking her head and regaining her natural smile. "We still have to meet with him anyway for his reward, we could always just ask." She giggled a little.

Ryoma scowled a little a the thought. "The reward still stands ? Are you sure ?" He crossed his arms, taking his usual _I am thinking pose_ before pursuing. "He is a stranger."

The queen smiled brighter than before. "A **powerful** stranger. Wasn't that the whole point of your participation in this tournament ? To find someone powerful ? I don't remember ever having stated that he needed to be hoshidan. It would probably work out better that way anyway."

That answer ellicited a sigh from the crown prince. "Very well. But let's at least talk to him first. Ensure he is worthy. Alright ?"

Mikoto laughed again. "Of course, dear. Do not worry." She went to Sakura to take her hand before turning to leave. "Come on children, let's go." Ryoma followed after another sigh.

Azura was the last to leave. She stayed silent during the whole discussion, not comprehending what they talked about for the most part. As far as she knew, the reward was just an audience, was there more ? It seemed so. And what about the face of the stranger ? It certainly was strange that both Ryoma and her mother seemed to recognize it.

After a long sigh, she hastily went chasing after her family.

* * *

Robin was led to a rather fancy room after his victory over the way too red prince. They took his sword and he was told to wait, so he decided to plunge into one of the sofas in the center of the room and pick up his translation.

Unfortunately, he was not able to concentrate and he found himself pondering over what his plans where now.

Frankly, he didn't have much to work with. All Naga told him was that her "acquaintance" asked her for someone to protect their child and her heritage. Said child being in the hoshidan royal family, and the child's heritage was somewhere in hoshido too. He saw an image of the girl thanks to Naga, so he more or less knew what he was looking for. And even should that fail him, he just had to spot their draconic scent, since even if the crafty goddess didn't want to say it, her friend was obviously another dragon. The child would be too, at least half of her. Their aura would be on another level entirely from the rest of the family.

No, he had that part covered. The real problem was getting the trust of the queen and be allowed to do his job. Somehow he doubted that saying "Hi, I'm a dragon-god of destruction and apocalypse, let me hang out with your daughter, it's for her sake, thanks !" would do the trick.

 _Then again, just seeing their faces if I do it would probably be priceless._

His little laugh was interrupted by a knock, then the opening of the sliding door barring entrance of the room. He hastily got on his feets, book still open in his hands, and looked at the door, seeing a woman in armor with a cross shaped scar on her face and a lance in her hand leading four other people in the room, including his opponent for the last round.

Each of the people possessed a rather potent draconing aura, as expected of the royal family, but the girl at the far back was by **far** the one with the largest and purest scent.

 _Probably her. It was even easier. Good job again, me._

He chuckled to himself until he could see her better, when his eyes slightly widened before he collected himself and put back his practiced "tactician' smile".

 _Not even close. Nobody changes that much in just a few years, right ? That's not the Kamui brat, right ? Who's that ?_

* * *

Upon entering the room, Azura could have sworn the stranger had been staring at her for whatever reason, but when she looked at him all she saw was a composed and assured smile. And piercing eyes.

 _The ears are c-_

She didn't even finish her thought that she was already blushing and averting her gaze, finding the ground to be suddenly very interresting. Fortunately it seemed nobody took notice of her state as her mother chose to proceed with the introductions.

"Good evening, stranger." She inclined her head with a smile, her eyes never leaving the man's face. "Allow me to be the first to do the introductions."It wasn't really proper for the queen to do this, but this was her mother, who didn't like all the formalities. "I am Mikoto, I currently serve Hoshido by being its ruler, and those are my children. You already met Ryoma, and the girls are Sakura and Azura."

They each bowed when the queen motioned toward them, Ryoma's greeting being much like the queen's when the girls were much more formal. The man then closed his book -if Azura read correctly, it was a rather complex book on history written in kanji- and put it inside his coat.

He then took a step back and bowed low, a by the book hoshidan greeting. "And I am Robin, it is an honor to be able to make your acquaintance." Azura was rather surprised by his countenance, it was as if he was familiar with the situation.

The queen too seemed to take note of that fact as she giggled a little. "Let us sit down before talking any further, shall we ?" She then moved to sit in the middle of the big sofa opposite to the one the stranger apparrently took for himself before they arrived.

Sakura and Azura respectively sat on the right and left of the hoshidan ruler while Ryoma, like always, chose to stand behind the queen, acting more like her bodyguard than her actual bodyguard who still stood by the door.

"As you say, your highness." The stranger, as Azura assumed, took his place in the center of the other sofa, sitting rather boldly, crossing his arms and his legs, again with his assured smile.

 _That is not a proper way to sit._

Azura thought as she checked on the expressions of her family. The queen was, as always, smiling. Sakura was, as always, nervous and cute. And Ryoma was, as always when in official business, expresionless. She sighed and sat properly just before the queen talked to her bodyguard.

"Reina, could you fetch us something to drink, please ?", the woman talked to just bowed and exited the room. The queen then returned her attention to the still unreadable young man in front of her. "I hope you like tea ?"

"Of course, your highness." He answered, his smile deepening a little. "But in the mean time, if I could risk an inquiry..." he trailed of, eyeing the queen and her entourage.

With the way he did not seem to pay any attention to her now, Azura was more and more unsure of the fact that he was staring at her before. Oblivious to her small turmoil, the queen acquiesced strongly.

"But of course. I have some of my own too, after all."

The dark clothed stanger just nodded. "Then I will be the first to start." He laughed a little, visibly at ease and his expression almost unchanging. "I am curious as to the aim of this audience. Obviously the reward for beating the prince isn't an audience, right ?" Surely his serene smile didn't subtly change into a smirk. That was obviously Azura's poor social skills misunderstanding.

As was, surely, the queen's discreet laugh while Azura -and no doubt Sakura- was frozen because of the dangerous aura Ryoma was emiting at the little quip.

"Evidently, that is not all. But before we come to that, I would very much like to know more about this year's champion.", the queen broke the heavy atmosphere like it was nothing. "Would you mind telling me where you come from, maybe ? And where you learned how to fight like that ?"

The end of the questions was accompanied by the return of Reina, with a plate. She silently placed it on top of the small table in between the two sofas and served four cups she ten passed to everyone but Ryoma, whom she avoided to look at due to his leeking aura. She then took her place by the door again.

The man accepted his cup with a "Thank you" before looking at the queen and, Azura thought, organising his answer. "I could tell you names of places, but I doubt they would mean anything to any of you, so I will just say that I come from very far away. So far, in fact, that this country seems like another world." He chuckled a little. "As for where I learned, I'd say mainly on the battlefield. But I am more of a mage than swordman, so my technique, as I'm sure your son could tell you, is more crude and self taught than anything else."

Azura was content to stay silent during the conversation, even if she was surprised to learn that the guy that beat her brother in a swordfight consired himself a mage. She glanced at the queen who seemed to ponder on something.

"You could always try a few names ? You never know."

The stranger sighed, took a sip of his cup before placing it on the table and standing up. "I have better than names, if you really want to know." He turned his back to the group of royals. "The symbol of my coat is the emblem of my homeland, Plegia. Does it say anything to you ?"

A smile returned on the queen's lips, as if she confirmed something. "Alas no." The stranger took his seat back, crossing his legs again and drinking his tea. "Then again, for someone so young looking to be so good with a sword is rather surprising. How old are you ?"

* * *

 _Why is that of any importance ?_

The tactician made a show of drinking his tea while he analysed the queen in front of him. Since she entered the room, never once her eyes left him. And the look she had in her eyes told him that she was seeking something from him, analysing him.

 _Is it because of this mysterious "reward", or something else ?_

Lying wasn't hard for Robin, that was practically his job. But making things up all the time wasn't healthy. He managed to stay mostly truthful about his origins, but he couldn't do it forever. His age was somewhat of a problem, too, because even if with his memories back he knew his age precisely, he didn't know how much time he spent in Boring Land. And on top of that, he didn't look his age anymore. Like, at all. He wanted to sigh.

"Nineteen, your highness." He decided to go with a little less then his age when Chrom found him. He looked like he was in his late teens anyway. "Not much younger than your son, I would think."

The queen then, again, ever so slithly narrowed her eyes. She made that look each time he answered her. Robin didn't know if it was because she by some otherwordly method saw through him or otherwise, but he was beginning to loose confidence in himself.

Seemingly oblivious to his problems, the queen rapidly smiled again, even if she seemed a little sad. "How young... And you say you knew wars already ?"

 _Am I growing paranoid ?_

Her concern seemed genuine enough this time, and the suspicious look in her eyes abbated a bit.

 _Let's indulge her there. And force the conversation onward with a little uneasyness._

"Quite a few time, actually. It was that kind of age, with wars one after the other." He chose to say cooly, his expression neutral. "I'm sure it's not that rare. Then again, it seems rather calm in that aspect here. At least no major conflicts."

"If only things were this simple..." The queen looked a bit bitter before she sighed and finished her cup of tea, replacing it on the table. "But you indulged my curiosity long enough. Let us speak of the reward for the championship."

"Oh ?", the plegian too finished his drink and placed it on the table. He noted that the two silent girls -including the blue haired, probably dragon one who always stared at him- imitated him shortly. "I am rather curious, yes. What could it be ?"

"It was supposed to be a position as retainer to the royal family" she began to explain. "But I wonder if that would interest you, given that you are not from here and posibly do not wish to stay ?"

"That would depend on the duty, I'd say." Robin answered calmy, trying his best to not let slip his inner laugh of victory. "But would you give such a post to a stranger ?"

"There would be a test period, of course." The answer was one he expected. "And your duties would be something of a bodyguard and maybe a little councelling. And as I imagine you do not have a residence here, you would lodge at the royal castle. That would give us plenty of time to talk more in details about yourself."

 _What the hell, are all monarchs exactly like Chrom after all ?!_

He pointedly ignored the ominous comment about further questionning to not ruin his victory. And he did his best not to let his thoughts break his serene and smiling expression.

* * *

She never heard of that. Azura was quite sure that this was not how retainers were chosen. She would know, she was supposed to nominate some since two years ago but never bothered. Why doing that through a tournament ? Why did Ryoma have to test them ?

 _Why even accept a guy like **him**?!_

"And who would be my charge ? Surely the queen herself does not need to headhunt a stranger for her own safety." The stranger was way too composed for Azura's taste. She would like to have at least a little support in her flustered state other than her ever nervous sister, no matter how cute she was.

Her mother was, of course, mercilessly oblivious. "Of course not." And, being the merciless mother she was, dropped another bomb on her near breaking daughter. "You would be Azura's retainer, since she couldn't bring herself to choose."

The blue haired princess froze. It took her an insane amount of willpower just to crisply turn her head and confirm that her mother was still smiling and did, in fact, say what she thought she said.

 _WHY DID I NEVER HEAR ABOUT THAT ?!_

Surely she would have shouted instead of just thinking it if she wasn't utterly stunned.

* * *

 **I always thought that Azura not having any retainer was kind of pitiful, so I decided to have Robin be one. What do you think ?**

 **There you have it. Hope you liked it ! o**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 : Nightmares**

 **Yo folks. This one was incredibly quick and fluid to write, strangely. So enjoy the first Azura / Robin interraction of the fic.**

 **As usual thanks for the feedback, favorites and follows :p**

 **AAALLlIII333 : I don't think I made him particularly cold ? Just when he is on work mode, no reason for him to be anything but what he need to at the time. ^_^**

 **coki13566 : I personnaly see Mikoto as quite crafty in her own right and intelligent herself, so she really see that the man she talked to is not her lost daughter. That does not mean she is convinced they have nothing to do with each other, however, or that she thinks her daughter's newly found retainer is fully honest with them ;)**

 **Grimaxnaga : I always saw Azura as someone who is cold and quiet more because she doesn't really know how not to be when in front of others than because she really is a cold person. She really is quiet and calm most of the time, though. Just not always. So I try to go with that here. And yes, Robin is very likely to make her mad or flustered on a regular basis, intentional or not. For all the serious stuff with retainer business and Mikoto screen time, that will be next time since tonight it is their first ever talk. ^_^**

 **On another note, for Azura's potential other retainers... I don't know who could be one. A good chunck of hoshidan guys don't trust her and / or like her very much, at the moment, so it'll probably not be for now if she is to make a second servant. If you have cast members who you think could fit the bill, shoot away :p**

* * *

Upon opening his eyes, he was in a dark place. His whole body seemed to be restrained, submerged in some sort of liquid.

 _What happened ?!_

He couldn't move, but upon frantically trying to look around, he found out that he was in some sort of cage made of glass, and he could hear something, albeit with difficulty, through the water, giving the speaker an otherworldly voice.

"They wouldn't believe me, noooo." The voice said, and he looked as best he could for the source.

Ahead of the glass cell he found himself in, he saw only faint and deformed shadows until a head, no doubt the voice's origin, planted itself right before him, startling him to no end. All he saw was an ugly face magnified by the glass, rendering it horredous and enormous. Giant crooked hands approached and took hold of his transparent prison, moving it in the air.

 _OhcrapOhcrapOhcrapOhcrapOhcrap !_

He realised quickly that he was, in fact, extremely small, and inside some sort of jar.

"You'll prove them wrong, though, won't you ?" The voice spoke, obviously to him. He was terrified of the otherworldly voice and ugly forms. The shaking of his cage making him loose his focus.

 _Stopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopit !_

"I know you'll prove them wrong ! Haha !" The voice began to laugh maniacally, dancing in the air with his glass prison. "My very own dragon !"

 _STOP !_

* * *

"STOP !"

Robin sat up on his bed in a flash, panting, his bare upper body soaked in sweat. His left arm ached. His new brand glowed an ungodly purple in the darkness of the room. He retracted it in front of him, examining it in the dark. His muscles twitched, his fist closing itself freneticaly on its own.

After a few deep breath and a little bit of massaging of his left arm, the pain subsided and he regained control of his left side. He took another deep breath before getting up.

Among the things he was **not** glad to have back alongside his old body, the worst of it was without a boudt his restless nights. Since coming back to the living, he woke up drenched in sweat or crying like a madman more often than not. Most times from dreams or memories who weren't his by any means.

 _Probably whatever memories Grima left me while I ate him._

That's how he rationalized it. Because these were too detailled and vivid to be from his imagination.

He sighed again, making sure he was in full control of his body and his breathing before heading to the bucket of water in the corner of his room, picking up a towel on the way to wipe his sweat and wash himself up quickly before putting the first clothes he found, plus his coat and his usual gloves. Then he went on his way.

The room he was assigned in the royal castle was not too far from the one his unwilling boss -the blue haired princess- occupied, but he didn't bother to go her way. It was still the middle of the night anyway, and he wanted air.

He briskly went down the corridor until he found a door leading to the backyard of his new headquarters.

Overall, the plegian was well received by the servants in the castle. He hypothesized that it was more because he wiped the floor with their prince and they didn't want to piss him off than it was because the people were good with strangers. That or it was because the queen took an inexplicable liking to him. Anyway, welcoming or not, his "test period" had not even begun for the moment, the queen allowing him some days to get his bearings first.

That didn't mean he was free to do as he pleased, however. For one, he was nearly constantly watched by those strange assassin-like servants. They didn't even make a very good job of monitoring him from the shadows, as he picked up on them after less than a day. To make a point, he went checking on his observers the day prior, making a show of loudly asking if they needed him for anything in public.

 _Their faces were priceless._

He chuckled a little. His mission too, took a turn for the weirder. Apparently, the girl Naga wanted him to protect was abducted **nine years** before he even made it here. For a wannabe goddess, she could gain to be a little more precise with her space-time travel. Thanks to all that, he was stuck here since a little more than three days during which his charge took great care to avoid him, so he could not even check if she was dragon-related or just a random girl who inherited a somewhat strong aura.

 _When I get my claws on the girl I will-_

His mind threats were interrupted when his ears picked up on a sound. If there was one thing that made him glad to be a dragon, it was his heightened senses. Be it smell, hearing or sight, he was top notch now. He didn't check his sense of taste in details yet, but he already decided that he would avoid spicy food. He may be a dragon, but spewing fire couldn't be healthy.

Following the sound on a whim, he quickly realised it was some sort of song he did not know.

The closer he got, the clearer the sound. And more he heard, more he found the melody and the lyrics to be soothing. He was never one to listen to music with too big of an interest, but this particular song seemed to resonate with him, calming his agitated mind. It even seemed to physically relax him as, strangely enough, a pleasant tingling sensation spread from the fingers of his left hand all the way to his shoulder, a drastic contrast with his earlier agony.

Curious, he pulled his glove off his hand, constating that his brand was, indeed, glowing a bright purple, again opposed to the ominous light it emitted when he woke up.

Determined to find the source of the song, he pursued his route until he came across a big lake reflecting the light of the moon on the sole person occupying the grass on its shore, her blue hair touching the ground as she sat there, singing to the moon with droplets of water dancing in the air around her.

 _So she **is** related to the dragons._

* * *

Once again, the princess woke up in the middle of the night because of a bad dream. This always happened when Azura was stressed for one reason or another. And stressed she was recently. The simple fact of having to always take care to avoid the white haired man her mother appointed as her retainer put a lot of strain on her mind.

It was a blessing in disguise that the guy himself seemed more intend on spending a good portion of his day in the library than actualy trying to catch her, because he nearly managed to do so more than once, even with her knowing the layout of the castle like the back of her hand.

Admitedly, she didn't really know why she avoided him so much. It was just something about the whole man that seemed a little... off to her. If she was the mystical type, she would probably be speaking about his aura or something like that, but she was not, so she simply theorized it by saying she found the man to be shady.

Why her mother even asked the man to be her retainer she could not begin to understand, but it was done and she would have to do something or other about that sometime soon, if only so she could sleep.

In the mean time, she did what she always did when she was troubled : she sought isolation and calm. And the best place for that near the castle was a lake a little far in the backyard.

There, the amber eyed girl immediately immerged her feets, basking in the cold sensation of the water with pleasure -the sole reason that she chose to rarely wear shoes was so she could feel the wet ground under her feets or plunge them into water more often.

Once she was satisfied, she sat on the wet grass not minding her white clothes at all, her feets remaining underwater. She ran her hands on the soaked ground, and began singing.

Softly, at first, since she would rather die than letting someone -anyone- hear her sing. But after a while of her low singing voice, she grew bolder and stopped minding her surroundings at all, looking at the moon. This was something she rarely did, singing frantically, but it always had the same effect.

All around her, drop after drop, the water slowly rose from the grass and the lake until hundreds were circling her in the air, but she didn't mind them. They hovered around her, floating and dancing through the air in rhythm with her singing, reflecting the light of the moon and shining like stars.

A wide smile crept on her face as the song reached its climax and she was surrounded by a whirlwind of waterdrops, she rose and began to turn around and dance with them in one of her rare moments of unrestrained freedom until her song ended, with her still turning around as the undreds of droplets accompanying her on her craft morphed into rainin her vicinity.

She finally settled when the water returned to the grass, giggling and allowing herself to bask in the afterglow of her performance.

 _I so love singing._

She thought in bliss, laughing a little louder before she regained her senses fully and calmed down, taking deep breath. That was when she was interrupted.

"Interresting display, I must say." The voice came from some distance behind her with some slow and loud applause.

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists tighly.

 _You should have checked no one was here ! Stupid Azura !_

She slowly, very slowly turned around, opening her eyes to see the man she least wanted to see in all of Hoshido.

"H-hi, R-Robin..." Even a blind man could tell she was not at all comfortable talking."W-whatever do you mean ?"

She knew the answer, of course. But she still wanted to believe she could get away with something resembling dignity.

The blue haired princess, bracing herself for his answer, could swear she saw him smirk like a cat toying with his food before he reigned in his expression. "Why, you howling at the moon, of course." He let out mercilessly, not even bothering to hide his smirk upon seeing the look on his **liege** 's face. "And with all the waterworks, too ! How grand !"

"H-howling ?" Her face grew redder by the second. "I was not howling ! And those were not waterworks !" Her voice grew louder, too. "How dare you mock your liege ?!"

Overall, Azura had a short fuse for all her calm and quiet personna she liked showing people, and the man in front of her seemed to have picked up on that almost immediately, judging by the smug look he had a the moment.

"Sorry, princess." He laughed a little bit. "I was just teasing you, your song was lovely, I swear." He then patted her head. He was a little less than a head taller than her so her heigh was not optimal for that but it was maybe a habit of his.

She was startled upon contact but kept still. She had little physical contact with others except Mikoto and Sakura, so she was not sure of how to react at first. Then it hit her that the person in front of her was a **boy** , and that she had **zero** experience with the opposite sex touching her in any way. Her already red face took an even darker shade as she chose to hastily retreat a few steps back.

"W-w-w-what are you even d-doing ?!" In what was undoubtedly her best imitation of Sakura to date, she berated him while glaring at his face.

She was not very intimidating, proved by the fact that he was now doubled over, openly laughing at her expense. Some retainer he was. She continued to glare at him until his fit abbated and he stood right back up, tears in the corner of his eyes. He wiped them with his gloved hands.

"Don't glare a people while looking that cute, that doesn't work." He said to her, laughter still evident in his voice, the comment forcing her to look away to not loose anymore of her royalness in front of him.

"S-stop mocking me already !" She pleaded all the while looking anywhere but at him.

He held up both his hands in the air, like he was trying to surrender. "Alright, alright. End of teasing, princess. Been awhile since I laughed that much."

She risked a look his way, seeing him with his usual smiling face -at this point she was pretty sure that it was his version of a poker face- and sighed to calm herself down before facing him proper.

"What are you even doing here ? Were you spying on me ?"

He eyed her strangely. "Shouldn't I be asking what you are doing here ? I'm pretty your mother told me you couldn't leave the castle alone unguarded."

She instantly looked at the ground. "I-I still am in the domain ! Nothing could possibly happen !"

The smile that made his way back and forth his face since the time she saw him told her she was not going to win this argument. "Should we ask your mother the next time we have a chance, **princess** ?"

She cringed. She was effectively defeated, frustrating as it was. Her mother would without a doubt be on the side of this with haired red eyed devil. "N-no ! Don't tell her ! P-please !"

He made a show of bowing, grinning all the way. "At your command, princess. But in exchange, I want an answer to my question. Why are you here ? And I won't accept 'to sing' as a valid answer."

She sighed while fixing a particulrly interresting point near her feets. "I couldn't sleep. I always come here when I can't sleep."

His reaction was not the laughter she was expecting when she timidly looked up, but an odd mix between a pitying gaze and a sympathetic look. "Oh ? Nightmares, too ?"

She shot her head up, looking at him with a sudden surge of interrest. "Too ?" She waited for a reply before coming to a conclusion on her own. "Is that why you're here ?"

She saw him flash a troubled smile while his left hand casually seized a small black ball hanging from his neck, playing with it. "That's the downside of having a lot of memories. There's more bad ones your mind can pick from to upset you." He laughed a little bit, still playing with his necklace.

Her interest now picked, she pressed further, taking a step in his direction. "And how do you solve the problem ?"

His hand left his necklace to begin playing with the tip of his long ear, making a show of being deep in thought under the gaze on the blue haired princess.

 _Those are cute. I want to touch, too._

Her eyes were glued to his strangely pointy ears, wondering if the strange man would mind or not if she tried her chance. But before she could come to a close in her deliberations, her new retainer stopped rubbing his ear and addressed her, forcing her to change her focus back to his lightly smiling face. "I had a friend." He said slowly, reminiscing. "An old mercenary, met him during a war."

She did not really see the point of this particular piece of information, but she though better than to speak her mind and break his line of thinking. "He was that king of crude guy, but worldly-wise and weirdly full of good advices." His were were not looking at her anymore, forcus on a point somewhere above her head.

 _Is that man dead, maybe ?_

She was there when he said he had gone to wars, and he was now talking about a companion, so maybe ? "One night I couldn't sleep, I found him near the fire in the center of the camp, and I remember I asked him the same question you just asked me."

 _Oh, so that was the point._

"And ? What did he say ?" At this point, she was more genuinely curious about what her retainer was told than she was hoping for some sort of magic answer.

Her inquiry made him laugh softly, his sight focusing on her face again, making her grow slightly redder once more. "Just make sure to make more good memories than you have bad ones, and focus on those."

"That's all ?" She was clearly nonplussed. "And it works ?"

"Dunno." He shrugged, regaining his default smiling face. "I'm still working on it, you should try it on your own if you're curious."

After a small moment of silence which, strangely, Azura did not mind while she was trying to read his expression, Robin held out his right hand to her. "Come now, princess. I am escorting you back to your room, where you will sleep soundly now."

She made to take his hand before backing away, blushing again and quickly moving past him in the direction of the castle. He followed after her with a quiet laugh.

He really accompanied until the door to her room without a word, letting her have her space. She kind of appreciated the though.

They parted with a quiet "Good night" and a much too big yawn for one coming from a princess.

 _Focus on the good times, eh ?_

In the end, for all the dignity she lost that night, she slept the remaining hours of the night much more soundly than she had in a long time.

* * *

 **There you have it ! Hope you liked it.**

 **Now then, a little schedule talk, since some want the story quickly : The rhythm will be fairly fast for the time being since I am on sick leave for a little while at the moment and have way too much free time . _.**

 **After that, we'll see !**

 **Next time guys ! o/**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 : Family counseling**

 **Hey folks ! This one took quite a bit of time, mainly because I didn't know if I really wanted to add another pov to the story. I tried, you tell me if it was a good idea or not ^_^**

 **As usual, thank you for the follow, reviews and favorites !**

 **AAALLlIII333 : Like you probably understood already, no, that does not mean at all that I will be updating everyday ^_^ Having lots of free time =/= having nothing else to do. It just means that I will have more time to dedicate to this particular activity.**

 **coki13566 : I never did this particular DLC, so I don't know, we'll see if I do it before finishing the story I guess. As for who married who, the only that really matter are who married Olivia, Lyssa and Cordelia, right ? é_è I have Lyssa down (It always is Long'qu in all my playthroughs for some reason), but the others I'm not sure. I am debatting over wheter or not I want one of the other two be Lucina's sibling, any thoughs ?**

 **Grimaxnaga : Thanks, I try to keep Robin in character (at least the image of it I have in my mind) most of the time. Don't hesitate to point out when I fail to :p As for the ninja and Takumi, yes, I see Robin as someone who likes picking on people or being the straight man when he finds it funny (you need a good sense of derision and humor to stay sane as the sole "normal" guy in a group full of madmen like the shepherds ). It's part of why Saizo will be there early on. His no-nonsense personna being quite funny with a nitpicky Robin, I think.**

 **Neyv : I think I won't spoil anyone when I say that Robin will stay in the hoshidan court until the beginning of fates at this point, so he will obviously spend time with the royals. Takumi included. ^_^ And thanks, I was effectively going with cute and funny with the things I wanted to convey with Azura's part of the conversation.** **They are virtually confirmed in my mind, unless something drastic arrives and changes my mind, you never know, so no promises and no hard feelings :p**

 **On an unrelated note, I found out that the manage stories part of this site has some ridicullous stuff like the location of the people reading my stuff. Is it somehow usefull for some other things than to tell me some 30 something people from my country read my story ? é_è**

* * *

After taking the blue haired princess to her room, Robin found himself with nothing to do. After staying where he was and pondering for a bit, he resolved to go to the library. Satisfied with his new found goal, he departed.

On the way, however, he was interrupted by a woman by a cross shaped scar who was waiting for him in front of his room. He considered turning back and taking another route before resigning himself when she spotted him.

" Ah ! Robin-san !"

 _It's the queen's guard, right ? What was it again ?_

"Rei... na ?" He hesitated a moment. "What are you waiting for in front of my room ?"

She moved herself in front of him. "The queen asked for you, so I came to fetch you. Since you weren't in I figured I would wait for you to come back."

"Oh ?" The tactician tilted his head to the side, smiling a little. "I hope you didn't wait long, I was out taking a walk. What does the queen need me for in the middle of the night ?"

The guardwoman begon walking away during his reply, prompting him to follow. "Don't know. Please follow me."

So he did, putting his hands in his coat's pocket and silently walking behind the woman.

After walking for more or less ten minutes and coming to a part of the castle Robin didn't already know, the woman stopped and knocked on a door. "I have brought him, your highness." She opened it after a quick reply, positioning herself out of the way to permit his entry.

* * *

Inside the room -an office, really-, the plegian found himself in front of the seated Mikoto and an unknown, purple haired woman acting like a maid to the queen, already serving tea for two.

"There you are." The ruler rapidly smiled to him bufore turning to her maid ? Bodyguard ? "If you could go outside and stand with Reina, please, Orochi ?"

"Okay~." Was her reponse before heading out of the room. Robin calmly watched her leave while taking his seat, uninvited, on the other side of the desk the queen was working on. The queen returned her attention to him while he was debating over wheter or not he wanted to drink tea at this hour.

"I thank you for coming here in the middle of the night." She seemed to analyse him -his attire anyway- while she spoke. "Though you didn't need to put on coats and gloves just to meet me."

The tactician took some second to decide if he wanted to tell on the princess for her little excursion or not before answering. "It's a bit of a habit to take these with me everywhere, your highness. But what, if I may, do you need me for at this time of the day ?"

"Oh, we will get to that later." To Robin, the queen's eyes and smile seemed like those of a cat, before she pursued. "But before that, why don't we talk a bit ? You have been with us for some days now and I would very much like to know what you think about my children."

"I... what I think about your children ?" The tactician inclined his head to the side, which earned him a light chuckle from the queen. "As you... wish ? But-"

"Do not worry." The monarch interrupted. "Just be honest and tell me what you really think of them, it will just stay between you and me. Right ?"

After a sigh, the dragon just decided to go on with it, taking his cup of tea to his mouth while he put his toughts in place. "Fine. But you will really need to excuse my bluntness on this because, while I have known **a lot** of royalty and nobles in my time, and I know that you people all have some sort of issues, your family as a whole seems to be dealing with quite a lot of trauma here."

"What do you mean ?" The queen managed to keep her smile on, but her eyes were looking at him appraisingly again. Robin was sure that it was yet another attempt to gain information on him, which is why he let slip the bit about his royal acquaintances.

 _Just what is it she seeks here ? Wouldn't it be simpler to just ask ?_

"Take Ryoma, for example." Robin pursued like nothing happened. "While he looks perfectly fine when he interracts with people or does his jobs or duties, as soon as he interreacts with one of his siblings, he looks to be somewhat wary of his surroundings and very very overprotective. He even goes so far as to act as a **bodyguard** in public."

"Well..." The queen set he cup down, looking at the liquid inside before returning her attention to her guest. "It is quite common for odler brothers to be overprotective of their families, is it not ?"

The plegian quickly hid his smirk under his usual smile. "I'm sure it is. Now... Hinoka. Admittedly, I haven't spoken to her yet, but I have seen her training and interracting with Sakura and Azura during what little free time I saw her allow herself."

"And ?" Was the only reaction the queen had, so he continued.

"It seems to me that she set herself on some sort of big quest for which she is training herself like a madwoman." He fixed the queen in the eyes. "And while I am certainly not an expert in children, I am somewhat of an expert on soldiers. And if you would permit me an analogy, overly driven and motivated ones are the first to end up killing themselves by doing bad decisions."

The queen nodded. "I will take that into mind. Who is next ?" She seemed more eager to discuss than before.

"Next one would be Takumi." Robin took another sip from his cup. "And excuse me here but he essentially is just another whinny brat who thinks every one he doesn't know is his worst enemy."

The queen's laugh caused her to cough when she swallowed some of her tea the wrong way. "I know he can be difficult with strangers. Did he do something to you ?"

"Nope. I never even talked to him. It's just the air he has." He said, amused by the monarch's reaction. "Oh, but I'm sure he will have the opportunity to tell me that he **knows** I am someone's spy and that he will be watching me."

"That sounds like something he would say, yes." By this time, Mikoto was wiping her desk with a towel who was put near her beforehand. "Who is next on your list ? Sakura or Azura ?"

"Sakura." The plegian dragon answered immediately. "She is quite normal by comparison to the rest. Just an overly shy child. I don't know if she is **just** shy or if there's more to it, but she seemed just fine when she was with Azura the other day, so maybe she's fine with family or close people ?"

The queen nodded, having finished drying her desk. "Yes, she is fine with family or people she grew up with. She will grow out of her shyness in time."

"Let's hope so. Now, we're left with Azura." Robin eyed the queen. She nodded. "Could you answer a question for me, your highness ?"

Inclining her head inquisitively, she nodded. "Of course."

The tactician sat deeper in his seat, bending to put his elbow on the armrest, supporting his chin with his hand and eyed the queen like a predator, his pupils taking on a slit, vertical form."You are not blood related to any of your children, right ?"

The queen nodded, more intrigued than afraid by the sudden changes of her interlocutor. "Yes, but that is n-"

"But you **are** with Azura." Robin cut her, his smile deepening upon seeing the one on his -at least for the moment- queen's face. She actually eyed him dangerously for a moment, no doubt debatting if calling in the guards now to have him interrogated would be a good call before sighing and, finally, talking.

"How did you learn that ?" There diffinitely was a dangerous edge in her tone.

 _Oh, so I was right after all. Of course. Those are the only two people with strong draconic auras, even if Azura's is way more powerful than the queen's. Good job as always, me._

"Facial features. While you don't share any with the other four, you do share some with Azura." His predatory smile progressively diminished in a small smug grin and his eyes retook their initial forms. The hoshidan ruler, on her side, calmed down until her smile returned a little bit. "Then again, you do not share enough to be a direct relative. Maybe an aunt, or a cousin ?"

"You have remarkable obvservational capabilities. I am her aunt, from her mother's side." Her smile disapeared again as she tought of something else. "You didn't tell Azura, did you ?"

 _So it all comes down to the dad of their big happy familly ? That or the powers jumped a generation ? Or the sisters were not nearly equals at all ? Too much variables._

"Why would I ? I don't care that much." He was more and more amused by the reactions of this woman. "It's not my place to tell her anyway." The queen took some time to think in silence under his nearly laughing gaze before she spoke to him again.

"Who are you, really ?" That question was the one that forced Robin into a little laugh.

 _The number of times people asked me that !_

"I am sure you have at least some ideas, what with all the surveillance and the inquisitive look you give me." He said after calming down, to which the queen made a little nod. "And I will tell you, of course. After that test period you talked about the last time." His smile was friendly when he finished his sentence.

Mikoto sighed before a little chuckle escaped her lips, forcing her habitual smile back on her lips. "Very well. That was the subject of this summon anyway. I officially inform you that, from tomorrow onwards, Azura will be given work to do, and your task will be to assist and protect her for the duration of said task. That will be all for you task, any question ?"

"Nope." The tactician waved his unused hand. "Just bodyguard the blue haired girl, all noted."

The queen giggled. "Very well. You can go back to you bed now, thank you for your time."

Robin got up and bowed over-dramatically before getting out to go back to his room, passing before the two women from earlier on the way.

* * *

The queen sat back on her seat, drained and not even giving any attention to the her two guards as they entered the office. For some reason, this man was weighing very heavily on her mind since their first encounter and this time she nearly had a heart attack.

 _It is just the facial features, right ? He's not here for her, right ? Nothing to do with this place, right ?_

She was hard at work trying to convince herself of the well meaning of her newest servant when she was interrupted by the purple haired woman, Orochi, a Diviner.

"Mikoto-sama ?" The sparsely clothed woman asked, worried. "Would you... maybe like some tea to ease your worries ?"

"Right. Tea would be good." Mikoto turned her head to the third woman in the room. "Reina, could you please prepare some for three ?" The woman nodded and got to work while the queen's eyes turned to Orochi. "Tell me what you think of him, as a Diviner."

The beautiful woman thought for a moment. "Scary." She finally told, hesitantly. "I am very unsure of what I saw. Like some kind of... immense... aura ? Anyway, it is scary."

The tea was served at this point. "You always work quickly, Reina." The scarred woman smiled and bowed her head. "And you, what are your thoughts after seeing him for a second time ?"

"I do not know, Mikoto-sama." The spearwoman shook her head. "I was at the tournament so I do know that he is physically powerful, but he doesn't move or walk like a warrior."

The queen sighed.

 _He's just an oddball, right ? A powerful, insightful oddball ?_

"Then again," Orochi talked after tasting the tea and complimenting Reina. "Kagero-san and Saizo-san told me that they were very quickly spotted. And that he went out of his way to, well, make fools out of them. In public. Kagero-san was actually complaining earlier that he took her for his personnal tourguide the last time, asking her directions." The queen actually laughed this time.

"A funny but powerfull oddball, then ?" She voiced her conclusion, eyeing the women while sipping her drink. They both nodded, after which she asked the real question. "Is he dangerous ?"

Reina quickly shood her head again, but it was Orochi who responded. "I doubt it." She said decisively, to which her scarred coworker nodded this time. "Even if his story if strange at the best of times, he went way too out of his way to participate in the tournament to be here for something as simple as spying, and I don't picture him as an assassin."

"The only things people have seen him do is reading in the library." Reina added. "And mocking our couple of ninjas."

Mikoto sighed again. She did that a lot tonight. "Let us hope things will be clearer after his test, and maybe Ryoma will have smething new after his trip."

The two other women looked at each other, wondering before Reina asked. "Ryoma-sama is leaving ?"

"He is." The ruler nodded. "First to Izumo, to send our regards and inquire about oracles that might concern Hoshido. Then to Notre Sagesse, following in his father's footsteps to see the Rainbow Sage. The trip should take him several months, I think."

"Do you really think those options will provide information on a single, unique man ?" The two women asked at the same time, their voices overlapping.

"If I am right, they will." Mikoto looked intensely at the inside of her cup. "Could you ask the staff to give me a list of the books he reads, just in case ?"

 _What to do in this case, though..._

* * *

 **There you have it. So ? Any though on a Mikoto pov ? More ? No more ? In any case, thank you for reading ^_^**

 **And before you go on your way, I am thinking about giving a real name for this story. (The current one is just the name of my doc files) Should I rake my brains for one or go on like this ?**

 **Anyway, see you soon folks ! o/**

 **Edit Nov.15 : Correction of (way too much) errors and fleshing out some things.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 : Travelling in good company**

 **Hey there folks ! Chapter 7 ! Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows as always !**

 **coki13566 : I saw the video and I don't think something like that will happen. Not in this context at least, since the Awakening's characters of the dlc didn't know Robin yet a the time, so I don't think that will be pertinent to have the Fates' crew meet them in that way.**

 **Grimaxnaga : I don't thing I will ever use the incubator idea of Fates, mainly because I think it is a retarded concept. Who in their right mind put their child in a space where they could litterally become older than you in months ? u_u Not even talking about what the hell did the pregnant women do during the fights ? o.o As for the Future Children and Morgan, fristly Morgan did not exist during Awakening in this story, and no adult Morgan is planned as of yet, if ever. For the other FC, except the trio of the actual plot I don't think others will appear, except maybe flashbacks and namedrop / mentions.**

 **Hatsuharu : First, sorry. I wanted to fuse two of your comments into one, and that erased one of the two without mixing anything T_T For the third, are they really twins ? I never saw much a ressemblance and don't remember that being said, but I didn't go over each support yet. As for the age thing, "kid" or "child" could go from 1 to over 10 years old depending on how you want to take it and I always though Kaze just wanted to say that he was inexperimented on that support. In any case, they are obviously older than Corrin / Kamui, so right now they are adults, at least in my timeline. ^_^ And no, Kaze was not the most talented. From the supports I saw, Kaze was the weaker of the two, which is why Saizo got the Saizo name, I guess. But I could be wrong, I'll read on the supports later.**

 **Mxylbobator : I don't know, in my playthroughs I though about picking Cordelia as Chrom's mate quite often, so that could be cool, too. For Inigo, I often went with Virion, never tried Henry. Is he that good or is it just for the hair color ? Keep in mind that canonically, Human!Anankos changed the trio's looks with magic, if I remember correctly, so anyone is good to go ^_^**

* * *

 _I really miss my bed._

Azura was distracting herself however she could from what her mother visibly wanted to tell her. Some form of escapism, in a vague hope that she was, in fact, not out of her bed yet and was just having some kind of overly elaborate nightmare.

 _I was really having a good night, too._

And that was a real shame that the night was cut short, because it had been quite a few nights that she wasted away in nightmares and endless and unsolvable reflections on her life. The fact that her peace was granted to her by an idiotic anecdote from that infuriating albino was only casting a tiny, minuscule shadow on the joy she was feeling at her newfound peaceful night. Really. Truly.

 _Even if all he did was mock me. And tease me. An spy on me like a creep._

Who did he think he was, anyway ? That stranger was just insuferable already, and she met him only two times ! How dare he laugh at her ? And embarrass her ? And laugh ? He called her singing "howling" ! Surely her voice was better than whatever that might have meant ! And he laughed, too !

 _And he p-p-patted my h-h-head !_

"And that is wh-"

"Shameless !", the blue princess blurted out despite herself, interrupting her mother in her no doubt very important explanation that she hadn't followed at all. That very, very rare outburst -however small it was- had cast absolute silence in the room the princess actually shared with three other women, and that silence made her instantly remember where she was.

She blanched. As much as possible anyway, which, given that her face was probably redder than a tomatoe, would not do much at all to conceal her unease. At the very least not to the three older women who now observed her with expressions ranging from genuine concern to obvious amusement. One of the three even combined the two, and it was her that spoke first.

"Azura ?" Mikoto asked, recovering from being interrupted -something Azura never, ever did. "What are you talking about ? Anything you might want to tell me ?"

If anything, the mix of concern and contained laughter made Azura uncertain as to how to respond. At least until another one -this one totally on the side of the laughing- spoke up from the side.

"Oooh, Azura-sama," The purple haired Orochi teased. "does it perhaps have something to do with a certain new addition to your followers ?"

To Azura's defence, she did not utter a word. The sudden re-heating of her face, however, seemed to have been more than enough confirmation for the three more experienced women, who shared a complicit glance and a little giggle. That sound finally prompted the blue haired girl to her feet, face still a dark shade of crimson.

"C-c-can we **please** talk about something else ?!" She spoke with such force that she surprised even herself. "W-what about the thing you talked about... earlier ? **Please**?!"

Her desperate tone and expression, however amusing her three elders found them, nonetheless managed to convey her strong wish to her mother, who nodded with a smile that Azura found way too big.

"Yes," her mother said. "Let us put aside my daughter's rough breathing and red face and talk about our matters. **For now**."

The amber eyed princess was perfectly pleased to ignore the two words her mother put more voice into and sat back down, trying to focus and lose the red on her face.

 _Right. Matters. Important matters. What was it again ? Mother talked about a visit. I wonder who is coming ?_

"Now that I have your attention," the queen began, seeing her daughter concentrating. "I can tell you where you will be going and what you will be doing, so listen well."

The princess instantly regretted ever leaving her bed. Again.

* * *

 _I see the little princess is very pleased with whatever duty she has to do._

Robin was smirking to himself, observing the other person occupying the cart. Sitting in the couch oposite to his, looking on the outside -and visibly doing her very best to not acknowledge his presence- was his liege, Azura. He didn't particularly care for her mood right now. He found more interresting to note that, while it was a different world, humans and animals where obviously similar, but there were exceptions.

What prompted this observation where the creatures pulling the cart -there where two; one for Azura and him, and the mounts of the three guards accompanying on the side -the carriage driver could also be counted as a guard, but that was obviously not his first duty here. The first beasts were good old horses, nothing special. The second were nothing particularly special either, as they were pegasus. Two of them anyway. The last, on the other hand, was very interresting for the plegian dragon.

 _Some species of realy big bird, it seems. A really, really big chicken. Does it taste like one, too ?_

Maybe the big white bird has a very sharp sense of danger, or Robin just let out more power than he though, either way, the bird turned its head to look at the tactician and let out some sort of low growl. The action of the mount caugh the attention of the one sitting on top of it, who turned out to be Reina.

"You seem to find Yari-chan quite interresting there, Robin-san," she said from on top of her chicken, obviously noticing the attention the plegian gave it from inside the wagon. "Is there a problem with her ?"

Adressed, Robin diverted his attention to the scared knight. "No, I just never saw a creature like this one. What is it ?"

Reina was patting her mount on the neck, eliciting what could be compared to a purr from it. "A kinshi. I'm not surprised you never saw one, they only live in some mountains of Hoshido and as far as I know, only the royal guards are allowed to mount them."

"Oh, so that means you are one, in addition to being under the direct order of the queen ?" Robin was never really sure of the position of the woman.

"Exact," The scarred woman began. "Mikoto-sama though it was a good idea to have me and some other guards for the first real duty of Azura-sama."

 _You mean try to glean what information you can from me, I'm sure._

"Oh ?" Robin reacted with a wide smirk. "Then you'll all do my job for me ? How nice."

"Not at all." Reina shook her head, smiling too. "We are tasked with protection. You, it would be with assistance. That is not the same thing."

"If you say so. Oh, how long to wherever who are going to ?"

The tactician knew the name, of course. He just could manage to say it right. The name of places and people in this place were very much like those of Chon'sin and while Robin learned the language during his months on Valm, he never quite got the accent right. This place, however strange it was, seemed to use a strange mix of Chon'sinese and the tactician's native tongue.

 _I should certainly train myself to speak better. At least the accent. But the suffixes are a big no._

Unaware of his though, the scarred spearwoman answered after some quick calculus. "At this speed, we will arrive more or less at sundown." She then turned to Azura, who until now managed keep a low profile while somehow eavesdropping. "You will then have to decide to either go right to shishaku-sama or wait until tomorrow, which would mean passing a night in the town, Azura-sama."

Robin was smirking when he saw the surprised expression on the princess' face upon being talked to.

* * *

 _Uuugh. Why me ?_

That question probably occupied Azura's though since her mother sent her on that stupid journey.

 _It's his fault._

And that was, obvisouly, the answer she arrived to each time. It was not entirely true and she knew it, because her mother was trying to give her official duties for a little more than two years now. But she always could say no before. This time, however, the order was definite. She even had Reina go with her so she could not make any excuse. So it was not **completely** the fault of the white haired, red eyed monster that was currently sitting opposite to her, looking at the outside and talking with Reina about her kinshi and his duties.

She should not think about him, however, because she had other things to be worried about, namely her stupid, idiotic, meaningless mission her mother forced upon her. Why did she have to go all the way to a town near the border just to do a "taxe review", really ? Can't this sort of things be done by an official or something ?

A big sigh escaped the blue haired girl, fortunately the two people close by were busy talking.

 _The worst is that I know Mother thinks I need this !_

On that, she could bet anything. Her mother always wanted to make Azura fit in with the hoshidan people, even if the girl herself didn't want to. And this stupid excuse for an official duty was Mikoto's latest attempt at forcing her daughter to interract with hoshidan people and aristocracy. Albino or no albino, she would have done it someday.

"...less at sundown. You will then have to decide to either go right to shishaku-sama or wait until tomorrow, which would mean passing a night in the town, Azura-sama."

It was a blessing that the amber eyed girl was more or less listening to the other two's conversation, because she was almost not surprised upon being spoken to by Reina, and she knew what it was about. She sighed after calming a little, taking care not to look at the grin she knew the white haired devil had on his face.

"That will depend. I think barging in after dark would be impolite, would it not ?"

She was answering Reina, but of course that earned her the now familiar laugh of her red eyed retainer, she glared at him when he began speaking.

"Aren't you royalty ? Like, a princess ? I say barge in all you want, he's supposed to serve you, you know ?"

"I don-" Azura began, only to be interrupted. By Reina, no less.

"Without agreeing to this phrasing, I admit that I am of the same mind, Azura-sama. Night or day, you can technically impose if you wish."

"Bu-" Again, she was interrupted. By her **retainer**.

"And your job is to do some sort of inspection, right ? Go ahead and stress the guy I little."

 _Stress ? Why ? About what ?_

The only one in the dark, however, was her.

"I think so too." Reina seemed to agree. "Not nescessarily stressing him, but just reminding shishaku-sama why you came would be a good idea. And that you're kind of above him."

"Yeah." Robin added. "That too. You're basically his boss. His boss' daughter at the very least. And he should try and please you, so do want you want."

 _I am your boss, too. And I don't see you try to please me._

She was very, very tempted to say that. But Reina and him didn't seem to let her talk anyway, continuing launching ideas one after the other, offering advices to her, but not really discussin with her.

She sighed.

 _I'll just nod and let them be. I hope we arrive soon._

Ironically, now, she wanted the journey to go faster. And that the other two would stop talking about the behavior she should take on site.

* * *

 **There you have it. Not the most entertaining chapter I think ! The next ones should have more substance to them, but I though I should make one about the trip.**

 **For the next one, I will need a very japanese and very pompous name, any ideas ? :p**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading folks, see you soon !**


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